6. Data Governance—Metrics

Data governance metrics is one of the key factors in the success of data governance. Data governance is often seen as a lot of overhead and hence, you need meaningful metrics to show progress periodically. A section in this chapter has been dedicated to discussing the characteristics of a good data governance metric. Organizations often do not realize that they are measuring a wrong metric. A few indicators that serve as warning signs and tell you that you need to revisit and revaluate your data governance metrics are discussed in this chapter. This chapter also describes a few data governance metrics categories, provides guidance on choosing and documenting metrics, and provides some examples of data governance metrics for readers to choose from, and track their data governance program. It is important to give a relevant and compelling view of the data to the top management and stakeholders to communicate the metrics and progress of data governance in an effective manner. Dashboards and scorecards have been discussed briefly in this chapter too.